


redemancy

by fernweh (lumenera)



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Biana is a Fashion Student, College, Dex is an Engineering Student, F/M, Keefe is a Barista, Nightfall Spoilers, Sophie is an Anthropology Student, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, in au context
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23831095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumenera/pseuds/fernweh
Summary: "Biana," Sophie said, to her left. "What are you doing?"Biana pushed down the sleeve of her tank top even further, completely exposing the words. Her roommate nodded in understanding, reading the words out loud. "It says, 'Yeah, I um, you're, like, really pretty, did you know that?'" Sophie laughed. "Sounds like you've got an admirer."***"Dude," Keefe said when Dex came up to the front of the register. "Did you get a tattoo?""Huh?" Dex looked up from his phone. Keefe pointed to the edge of his sleeve, where words peeked out from under the edge. "Weird. I didn't notice.""Oh, it's your soulmark." Keefe looked on thoughtfully as Dex rolled his sleeve back. It was a nice day for September, but surprisingly cold enough to merit wearing an long sleeved shirt. Keefe leaned over the counter to read the words. There were only three, written in a type that looked almost too good to be true.Are you alright?"That's cool, good luck in that department. Your usual?"
Relationships: Dex Dizznee/Biana Vacker, Sophie Foster & Biana Vacker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	redemancy

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I ship Dex/Biana or Tam/Biana but in the meantime, cute soulmate stuff so here you go

_redemancy (n.)_

_the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full_

***

The alarm clock blared in Biana's ears, loud and violent. She groaned when the light flickered on in their shared college dorm, after the sound of descending from a ladder ceased.

"Sophie," she groaned. "Why did you have to pick a 8AM again?"

"It's good for you," her roommate called back from somewhere below, sounding positively undisturbed. Sophie was good with mornings. Biana was not.

"I need my beauty rest."

"Then you should have gone to bed earlier." Sophie retorted with a half laugh.

"Just because _you_ have an 8 doesn't mean I now have an 8." She gave up and opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to the light, sitting up, narrowly missing the ceiling.

"Oh, good morning." Sophie looked up at her from the floor, toothbrush and toothpaste in hand. "Thou hathst awoken."

Biana rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her hands hit the ceiling. She flinched away, bringing her hands back down. "Ow."

"Anyway, didn't you say last night that you wanted to be woken up early so you could work on that paper for Bio?" Sophie said before putting the toothbrush in her mouth.

"That didn't mean you had to go through with it. Why do I need Bio for an _art_ degree, anyway?"

Sophie did not reply, heading back to the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth. Biana used the time to climb down from her loft bed and change into the day's clothes. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the only days that she didn't have classes before lunch, were workout days. She changed into a light blue tank top and black shorts, brushing out her hair in smooth strokes, before the writing on the back of her shoulder caught her by surprise.

On the upper right part on her back, where the shoulder blade was, rested a mass of hastily written black words. She noticed it one day, after a shower, but the long sentence wasn't clear until now, albeit with messy handwriting. She twisted her neck to see it reflected in the mirror, trying to read the reflected words. They were all backwards.

"Biana," Sophie said, to her left, exiting the bathroom. "What are you doing?"

Biana pushed down the sleeve of her tank top even further, completely exposing the words. Her roommate nodded in understanding, reading the words out loud. "It says, 'Yeah, I um, you're, like, really pretty, did you know that?'" Sophie laughed, raising her eyebrows at Biana. "Sounds like you've got an admirer."

***

"Dude," Keefe said when Dex came up to the front of the register. "Did you get a tattoo?"

"Huh?" Dex looked up from his phone. Keefe pointed to the edge of his sleeve, where words peeked out from under the edge. "Weird. I didn't notice."

"Oh, it's your soulmark." Keefe looked on thoughtfully as Dex rolled his sleeve back. It was a nice day for September, but surprisingly cold enough to merit wearing an long sleeved shirt. The blonde barista leaned over the counter to read the words. There were only three, written in a type that looked almost too good to be real. _Are you alright?_ "That's cool, good luck in that department. Your usual?"

Dex nodded, exchanging his phone for his wallet from his back pocket. Keefe rang up the coffee on the register. He handed Keefe four dollars and when he received the change, dropped it in the tip jar. They'd done this enough times to be familiar with the process. "Thanks, Dex."

"No problem. How's your senior thesis coming along?" Dex asked, since there wasn't anyone else in line behind him.

Keefe made a face as he scribbled Dex's name on the coffee cup, passing it along to one of the other baristas. "Terrible. Ugh. Can't believe I have to go for a doctorate after this, too."

Dex winced empathically. "That's why I'm in engineering. 4 years, and then I'm done."

"Fair, but there's too much math involved."

Dex chuckled, and moved on to wait for his coffee to be made.

***

Biana's run went normally. She pulled out her earbuds as she entered her dorm, Sophie long gone to class. She took a shower and then changed into normal clothes before starting on her makeup. It was a lot lighter than she would have done before, but it wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone. It was college. Who cared?

She ate lunch before class in the mess hall, frowning over her laptop. She was supposed to be putting the final edits on her Bio paper, but she hadn't finished writing the conclusion. Biana hated writing conclusions, because they had to wrap everything up nice and neatly, and whenever she wrote one, it made her sound utterly pretentious. She debated calling Fitz for help, but she was in college, she needed to start being more independent. Besides, Fitz was a senior, and he was probably drowning in his own schoolwork. She closed the tab and moved onto her math homework, copying the problems from the screen into her notebook and solving. At least she would get something done before class.

The professor droned on and on, like he had in the previous classes, and she did her best to keep up. Introduction to Textiles was rather boring, because there were just so many of fabrics to learn about. Chiffon to silk to satin to cotton to polyester to rayon to wool to velvet to linen to denim to damask to batiste to cashmere. The list went on an on and on. Biana's hand was starting to cramp from all the notes she took. He included a good bit about the ironing temperatures, and she wondered if she needed that, too. She scribbled it down, just in case.

Finally, he dismissed class. Biana gathered her notebook and pens back into her messenger bag and left the lecture hall, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the warm sunlight. There was a student who seemed to be in a rush, scurrying down the sidewalk. She moved out of the way, but the next student wasn't as lucky.

***

He tripped over the sidewalk. To be far, he wasn't looking where he was going, so technically it was his fault that he didn't realize someone behind him was moving much faster than he was.

Someone reached out a slender hand to him. "Are you alright?"

He took her hand and she helped his to his feet. When he finally met her gaze, Dex momentarily forgot how to breathe. There stood the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Bright teal eyes, tan skin and brown hair that cascaded around her shoulders, she was a knockout. "Yeah," Words refused to come out of his mouth, tongue-tied around pretty girls, it seemed. "I um," He blurted out the first thing that came to mind instead. "You're, like, really pretty, did you know that?"

Her eyes widened. "It's you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Great, now he was slipping into formal language. Dex wasn't sure that was any better than forgetting words.

She turned around and pulled down the collar of her shirt, exposing one of her shoulder blades. Dex was mildly uncomfortable until he realized why she did it. The first words he spoke to her where written on her skin, in his messy handwriting. He flipped his left forearm to face upwards, revealing his own soulmark.

"It _is_ you," she breathed.

"I'm Dex. Dex Dizznee." He figured now was as good as a time for introductions as any.

"Biana Vacker. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Why don't we get coffee? I know a good place."

"Sounds good, I don't have class for the rest of the day.

***

> Biana [1:20 PM]: _Sophie sophie sophie_
> 
> Sophie [1:37 PM]: _whats up_
> 
> Biana [1:38 PM]: _You won't believe what's happened_
> 
> Biana [1:38 PM]: _I met my soulmate_
> 
> Biana [1:39 PM]: _Hes actually like super cute_
> 
> Sophie [1:40 PM]: _ahhh im so excited for you!!!!_
> 
> Biana [1:41 PM]: _He called me pretty_
> 
> Sophie [1:42 PM] _Thats cause you are_

***

"Most people don't look at me and think pretty," Biana told him over coffee. "So it was kind of a shock when you said it."

"Really?" Dex asked, clearly confused. "Why?"

She pointed to the web of scars trailing the left side of her face, going all the way down to her arm. Dex hadn't noticed them, they were faint enough unless you were concentrating really hard. "I had an accident with a bunch of mirrors a while back, and I've got scars all down my left side. That's not very pretty to look at, is it?"

"I think you're beautiful," Dex said softly. Then, he blushed and drank from his coffee, a tad embarrassed. Biana was absolutely _ethereal_. 

She changed the subject to not make him uncomfortable. "So, what should I know about you? Since we've just met."

"Let's see," He tapped his fingers on the table as he thought about it. "I'm a freshman, studying Engineering, but I haven't decided between Chemical Engineering or Mechanical. I've got three younger siblings, they're triplets--" he made a face, and Biana laughed--"They're very noisy, but they're starting to settle down now that they're in high school. They like breaking things."

Biana smiled at him, and it was like the world got brighter. "I'm a freshman too, but studying fashion. I've got two older brothers, one's a senior, and the other one's in his mid-thirties. What do you do in enginnering?"

"So, right now, we're doing AutoCAD--that's computer-aided drafting," Dex waved his hands around a bit. "We're in the general engineering course, so all the freshman aren't allowed to declare until at least sophomore year."

They sat together for about an hour, learning more about each other, plenty of time for their coffee to get cold. He walked her back to her dorm when it got dark outside.

"Oh, hey, we're in the same building." Dex noted. "I've never seen you around though."

She smiled at him. "Well, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on, though."

On an impulse, he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "See you later, Biana."

Needless to say, they both blushed deeply.

***

"So, when do I get to meet him?" Sophie asked a few days later.

"Dex?" Biana replied. "I can have him come over today, if you want."

"Sure." Sophie paused her typing. "Did you say his name was Dex? Reddish blonde hair, purple-blue eyes, sorta tall? Dex Dizznee?"

Biana eyed Sophie over the top of her laptop. "You know him?"

Sophie's face broke out into a wide grin. "It's sorta complicated. He's my cousin."

After that revelation, Biana texted Dex, inviting him over.

  


> Biana [3:44 PM]: _Hey my roommate wants to meet you so if you're free you could come over_
> 
> Dex [3:50 PM]: _Sure! I'll be right over :)_
> 
> Biana [3:52 PM]: _My room number's 116_

Sophie answered the knock on the door. "Dex!"

"Sophie? Biana's your roommate?" He gave her a hug, which she enthusiastically returned.

"Small world. You didn't tell me that you met your soulmate." She pointed accusingly at him.

"It was only a couple days ago, Soph. I'm busy, Engineering is hard."

"You should've picked an easier major, then."

Dex gave her a sad face.

"Are you guys going to stand there the entire time or come in?" Biana asked. They all laughed, and Sophie opened up the door to let him in. Biana noticed he had dimples. _He just kept getting cuter and cuter_ , she thought.

***

Biana was especially gorgeous when she smiled, Dex thought. And not only that, her personality and the way she carried herself, it was safe to say he was more than just head over heels.

"So," Sophie said, propping her ankle on her other knee and leaning forward in her chair, hands tucked under her chin, elbows resting on her now horizontal leg. "Which one of you am I supposed to give the 'if you break their heart I break your face' speech too?"

Dex gulped. He'd been on the receiving end of Sophie's wrath once or twice, and it wasn't something he particularly wanted to experience again. She may have been short, but she was _scary_. Judging by Biana's look, she was thinking the same thing.

Sophie burst out laughing. "Just kidding. Seriously though? I'll be watching."

Dex didn't want to know what that meant. They'd just met, and weren't dating yet, so he had nothing to fear. Right?

***

"We're not dating, are we?" Biana asked, setting down her fashion sketchbook. They'd been meeting up more and more recently, studying or just hanging out. Neither of them had put a label on what their relationship was, but Biana wanted things to be clear.

"I don't think so," said Dex over his Chemistry textbook. "I mean, if you want, but I just thought we should get to know each other first before jumping ahead."

"Good," said Biana with a sigh. "I'm more than okay with taking things slow."

Dex gave her a shy smile from over his textbook. Biana picked up her pencil and started drawing again. She'd originally intended to design some casual wear for guys, but the model she was doodling was beginning to look more and more like Dex with each second that passed. And he would've looked great in the clothes she designed. If she ever got them developed, she wondered if she could get Dex to be her model.

***

They'd been talking for more than a few months before Dex finally posed the question. "So hey, Biana, do you want to go on an actual date?"

Biana's whole face lit up. "Sure, Dex. I'd love that."

(Sophie cried, and snapped several photos of the two before Dex kindly told her that they had to go on their date, or they were going to end up standing there forever.)


End file.
